Kirby Smart updates Georgia's injury situation ahead of Kentucky

It’s a long list of Bulldogs that are banged up headed into Georgia’s matchup with Kentucky. Quarterback JT Daniels has made headlines constantly battling the injury bug, but he’s far from the only one. In meeting with the media on Monday, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart did his best to cover all bases as far as the injury report goes.

JT Daniels

We’ll start with Daniels given that he’s the one that most people are here for. Daniels missed his second straight game on Saturday with a grade 1 lat strain. He also sat out of the UAB game in Week 2 with an oblique strain.

“You know how I feel about hypotheticals,” Smart said. “We’re trying to get JT back. He is much improved this last week. At the end of the week, he had a really productive throwing session, I guess it was Thursday maybe. And then before the game, he was able to throw more than he was the previous week. We’re going to let him throw some today, although today will be a lighter practice … We’ll look and see how he is, where he is, see what he can do. That’s always the case.”

Jamaree Salyer

A big part of Smart’s concern for quarterbacks right now is making sure that there’s somebody healthy. In order to do that, he’s got to keep them on their feet, and Salyer plays a big part in doing so at left tackle. He left Saturday’s contest against Auburn midway through the second quarter with a right ankle injury and did not return.

“Jamaree had a slight ankle. It didn’t swell. I thought he could have gone back, if he did play, he wasn’t going to be 100 percent. We’re certainly hopeful to get him back and have him be able to go.”

Christopher Smith

Smith is another injury that occurred during the course of the game on Saturday. On the very first drive of the game, Smith made a tackle on Auburn tight end Luke Deal. He wasn’t attended to on the field, but immediately headed to the sidelines. Like Salyer, he did not return.

“Chris had a shoulder that came out place. We put it back in, and he didn’t feel like he was 100 percent gaining his strength back. Ron would say he’s seen guys that are back in a week from that. We’ll find out where he is. He’s one of the toughest people that I’ve ever been around, so if Chris can play, he’ll play.”

Other Injury Updates from Kirby Smart

Georgia is dealing with a couple of other minor injuries outside of those to Daniels, Salyer and Smith. Jermaine Burton and Marcus Rosmey-Jacksaint traveled to Auburn but did not play. Kenny McIntosh was limited in what he was able to do. Meanwhile, Arian Smith and Ameer Speed stayed back in Athens. Smart is hopeful to see some, if not all, of those guys back in action this week.

“So many of the other ones are soft tissue. We’re hoping to get Arian (Smith) back. We’re hoping to get Jermaine (Burton) back. (Marcus) Rosemy looked good Saturday in warmups to me and probably could have played in emergency, so we’re thinking we’re going to get him back. Not sure on Dom (Blaylock), won’t be on George (Pickens) … Kenny (McIntosh) has got a little bit of a hamstring. It never pulled, but it was one of those that was tight and bothering him. We’ve been treading lightly. He warmed up, thought he was going to be able to go, but he just wasn’t 100 percent. Covered a couple of punts and things like that. He’ll be out there today repping, but I won’t be able to tell you until we’re full throttle what he’ll be able to do. Ameer (Speed) still has got an ankle. He had an ankle last week in practice, and it’s unfortunate because he’s been playing really good for us, especially on special teams units. Don’t know if he’ll be back.”

Georgia will keep it light in practice on Monday. Smart said that after some of the games that got out of hand early, they went a little bit more physical to start the week. That won’t be the case today after two tough matchups with Arkansas and Auburn as another awaits on Saturday.

“Our guys have gone really six consecutive heavy weeks,” Smart said. “Heavy even on Mondays. We’ve gotten after it. Even some of the games that didn’t go to the fourth quarter, we practiced pretty hard on Monday. Today, that won’t be the case, and we’ve had a really physical two games in a row with Arkansas and Auburn. There will only be so much we’ll be able to get done today.”

“I’ll know a lot more on Tuesday based on how they practice Tuesday.”